Out of Hospital - Am Fine-US Medical the Best

I went into a hospital with no notice to them Memorial Day Monday about 10:30 and just was released today Wednesday two days later with temporary oxygen and pills - a small price to pay for something that could be quite serious. Rather than talk about me alone, I could just not be more impressed by US Medical. I know different people have different experiences. But in my case, I do not see how the last two issues I had could have been handled faster or more professionally.

1. THE EYE PROBLEM - SEVERAL YEARS AGOSymptom: 8:00 am saw floaters in one eye I never saw before. Being a male I almost ignored it. But I called my eye doctor for an emergency visit and was granted one in two hours. * 10:00 am - At Eye doctor who saw me on short notice. I expected him to say it was nothing or just take eye drops. He was concerned. He made an appointment for me at a Retina specialist a few miles north. I had never been her patient (Retina Specialist). She allowed an emergency visit at 2:00 pm the same day * 2:00 pm - At the Retina Specialist, a nice Asian doctor, I expected her to say it was nothing. She said I had a detached retina and that was bad. But she said she could fix it that day. She asked me to sit in a very plain wooden chair and not move. She hit my eye with a hand held laser. Each time it burned a little but I tried not to move. * 3:00 pm She said my eye was fixed and to come back for an observation in a week or so. The return visits showed no issues. She had fixed it by 3:00 pm. Not only were the floaters gone, but I do not even remember which eye it was without asking the eye doctor experts. They always tell me and smile * And so 8:00 symptoms that were totally fixed by professionals by 3:00 pm in patient surgery the same day. 7 Hours later.

2. MEMORIAL DAY AND SERIOUS LOSS OF BREATHSymptoms: What began seeming a normal cold on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend seemed to keep changing symptoms. By Memorial Day Monday morning I had a hard time walking more than 12 yards or so without stopping to rest and breathing heavy many times. I did get the flag out, but that meant just inside the house 10 minutes of sitting down and heavy breathing to recover before I could walk to another room. * 10:30 am Memorial Day - signed into emergency room of a hospital I had never been to at my wife's suggestion. * 10:35 am Memorial Day - hospital already fixed my symptoms. They asked my problems. I said walking was a problem and that then I could not catch my breath. The immediately put me into a wheel chair and gave me oxygen. Being a dumb male, part of me thought - hey symptoms gone, maybe I am done now. But no, even dumb me knew they had to find what was really wrong. * 10:35 to 3 pm Memorial Day - They hit me with many tests. Some were standard, some I had never had before in my life. The standard ones were an often monitoring of temperature, blood pressure, pulse rate, and oxygen saturation level in my blood. Also it seemed blood test now were going to be every six hours. In addition, more tests that included: Chest X-Ray, EKG, Cat Scan, Leg Ultrasounds. And yes I may have forgotten one or two * 3 pm Memorial Day - the nurses had theories, and perhaps the doctors first of pneumonia or later a heart issue. To everyone's credit, they did not diagnose till all tests were in. At 3 pm I was admitted to the main hospital since they found the answer. I had a blood clot in each lung and also a blood clot nearby the lungs. In other words, you could breath all you want filling your lungs, but not much oxygen could pass to the blood. They also knew the answer since this is not uncommon - blood thinners at least for some months to stop and then perhaps help reduce the clots, and also oxygen since the air is mostly nitrogen (78%) and oxygen about 21%. But of course if Oxygen were at 100% or close, the odds of getting oxygen to blood was much better. * Hospital routine - blood thinner shots in the stomach, constant measuring of vital signs, blood tests perhaps every 6 hours. They also ordered ultrasounds of my heart, lung and neck areas. They also had a physical therapy person working with me to get me to walk starting with a walker. And of course I was also on oxygen and an IV. * 5 pm Wednesday - 2 and a half days later - they said I was responding to treatment. They sent me home with oxygen that their numbers showed by my oxygen level that Medicare would pay in total for the oxygen (Medicare pays if 88% or lower oxygen level in blood), and also with a prescription not too expensive co-pay for a newer blood thinner medicine much less trouble than the old. * Later Wednesday - as I sit here typing this, it is clear to me that as they told me many people can die from this blood clot in the lungs problem. What can happen is that a blood clot can start in the leg where the veins might be larger, and then travel up to the lungs with smaller veins where they wedge. And so with immediate care and the highest professional care a life or death item becomes... oxygen for a short while and blood thinner pills for a number of months. Not a bad trade - when you have immediate attention from professionals

OTHER COMMENTS - At no time did anyone lie to me, cover up a test so their own hunch would win or other. They also seemed to have a huge sense of urgency and sometimes a sense of humor. One doctor in the hospital (case 2) even impressed me when he said the words "I don't know" when he tried to figure out the cause. He said my case did not match the hereditary case type. And I did not have the correct bad habits to cause it. And with no leg bumps the clot in the leg travelling thing did not seem to fit, and there were no clots in my leg in yesterdays test. I loved when unlike all knowing clowns on my TV set, this learned ethical man said "I don't know what caused it." He then cared and scrunched his forehead. it was clear that he felt he should learn what happened.

The professionalism and speed was just beyond amazing to me. I have the highest respect for the US Medical system. I know some may have other experiences and some politicians say they hate it. But my personal history, shows them to be incredibly competent and caring people.

Wow, RN! You sure have been through it, haven't you? Happy to hear you are on the mend though! So happy they fixed your eye like that and so fast! It will be one year ago on June 1st that I was admitted to the hospital with multiple blood clots in both lungs. I had pneumonia the end of May and by June 1st couldn't walk without stopping to catch my breath. Thought is was just the pneumonia getting worse. Hubs took me to the ER and they did a CT scan and found the clots. You are right, 30% of people that have blood clots hit the lungs don't make it! You and I were lucky! Very!! Mine came from a medication I was taking that caused a clot on my leg that broke off and went to my lungs. After a week in intensive care and a regular room, I was released home on oxygen and blood thinners. Had to stay on them for 6 months. Be careful my friend. Blood thinners cause internal bleeding. If you see one ounce of blood CALL your doc immediately. Ended up having to regulate my blood thinners ON MY OWN and didn't tell the doctor. They had me on way too much. Not everyone can tolorate them well. I am one of those people. I am clot free and should never have that problem again as I no longer take the medication that caused the blood clots in the first place. Like I said, you and I are VERY lucky!

Very sorry to hear about your stay in the hospital RN. Please take it easy and listen to the Docs.

Aside from that, your point is well taken. We do have the best health care system in the world. However, we have some Americans(?) who think that this is unfair and are doing their best to drag our system down to the same level as a 3rd World country . I wish everyone would realize what happens the government manages a heath care system........The VA health care immediately comes to mind.

Your situation sounds quite similar to mine Robin except you had multiple clots in both lungs? I had one in each lung plus an added one. And I agree with the very lucky part for you and me. I looked it up. About 200 Americans per day, 80,000 a year die from this. That is even more I believe than die from a drug overdose. And of course it is 200 times higher than the number of people who die each day from civilian rifles. But who said liberals can do research or understand math? So this would seem very serious and the rifle thing a waste of space... to someone like us who think.

DA - yeah, of course when you have a life or death issue and it relates to speed and professionalism, Obama is no good at either. With what I have seen of the VA system, Canada Medical, UK Medical is that it works for some stuff that can wait. The deaths seem to come from the word "delay". Imagine getting on the phone to Obamacare and saying you "can't breathe" and they say "Sorry, June is booked, July and August no better. how about after Christmas. Can you hold your breath that long?"

The reason I regulated my own Warfarin was because when I had my bleeding problem from it, I went round n round with the Vascular doc. Told him that if he didn't lower me I was going to quit taking it. He said YOU CAN'T for at least 6 months! I said well, YOU are my father-in-laws doc too and you KNOW what happened to him! So he said well, drop the MG down 2 and we'll see. I did and I STILL was bleeding. Sooooo, I went to get my blood drawn and even the RN taking my blood said to me, "The docs ALWAYS put people on too much and they bleed" "She said, drop it down yourself and as long as you are within the right range where they want your blood, you are FINE!" She said, I see this all the time with blood thinners! You can bleed to death from that stuff. My father-in-law had to be on it for awhile and he was rushed to the hospital and almost didn't make it from the bleeding. They had to give him 3 units of blood and stuff to thicken his blood. I'm telling you this because I don't want you to go through what I did! It's bad enough the stuff makes you bleed but it also made me itch like crazy and made my blood pressure drop to crazy low levels! I just want you to be aware from someone that knows!

PS I agree we have the best HC system in the world. I also learned over an 8 year span taking care of my father 24/7 with over 30 surgeries and countless days/months in and out of the hospital with him, and the loss of both his legs, you speak up! I didn't let one thing go by and if I saw something not right, I opened my mouth. I questioned doctors, had to fire 2 of them over an 8 year span. Most are good but there are exceptions! I've seen way too much to not question! In fact, I saved my Dads life more than once when he was in the hospital!

Glad to hear your doing okay. My mother had a detached retina a year or two ago, she was in an out in a day. Thank goodness for modern medicine. I thought I had a blood clot in my leg from a long plane flight earlier this year, but thankfully it turned out to be nothing. Do you smoke or sit a lot? I know those things can contribute to clots, especially the older you get. Once your off the meds I would suggest fish or krill oil as a natural blood thinner (as long as your not taking anything else that will thin your blood). The Omega 3 in fish oil is also a natural anti-inflammatory and is good for the heart, eyes, brain.

RN, I'm glad you're doing better! My apologies for not responding sooner. I'm having some computer issues, it's like they are all protected by Obamacare. I've found the iPhone is my friend! No issues there.

Get rest, watch the blood thinner( like Robin said) and keep on posting! Take care, and God bless.

Funny thing, RN! Before I did what I did for my career, I wanted to be a nurse. LOL Never knew I would end up being one by (baptism by fire) with my Dad! He had one Doc I loved. He actually taught me how to care for my dads stumps (in the hospital). He had me change the bandages and do all the things needed right there in his room. He wanted the bandages changed more than the nurses had time to do, and since I was there for hours on end he gave permission for me to do it! I won't go into all I had to do for him at home too. Some pretty graphic stuff. Yeah, I learned a ton! I can give one heck of a shot too. Not much I haven't seen and done. Ugh! Hope you're feeling good today my friend!